Parents are reporting a deadly new cocktail made from children’s cough syrup and lemonade is being taken by teens in Melbourne. Children as young as 14 are mixing a maroon medicine called Painstop with lemonade and another ingredient — which the Herald Sun chooses not to reveal — to make a drug that mimics the effects of ­heroin.

All states of Australia should repeal laws which force couples to divorce if one partner seeks legal recognition of their gender reassignment. The issue has emerged as South Australian Greens MLC Tammy Franks said in Parliament that she’d heard from half a dozen couples who are facing the predicament.

Major changes have been made recently to Australia’s official aid program. Funding has been cut sharply. Australia’s aid agency AusAID has been absorbed by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and no longer exists as a separate entity, reducing the autonomy of the aid program.

The Greens are playing tough politics on a number of budget measures before the Senate change-up and could pave the way for a double dissolution - but don't hold your breath on that, writes Paula Matthewson. In two weeks Australian federal politics will shift slightly on its axis. The balance of power in the Senate will move from being the sole domain of the Australian Greens to also being shared by a motley collection of mostly conservative senators.

Tasmania could be the next offshore processing centre under a revived plan put forward by church and multicultural groups. The Australian Churches Refugee Taskforce will present the ``Tasmania solution'' to the federal government in an effort promote the idea of moving asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru to the state. The call comes as part of the 2014 Refugee Week.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten is facing an internal battle, with Labor MPs urging their colleagues to drop support for asylum seeker processing on Nauru and Papua New Guinea and instead advocate the closure of the two centres.